


Identity Reveal

by RileyMasters



Series: Febuwhump 2021 [17]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV), The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: FebuWhump2021, Identity Reveal, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, M/M, Post-Movie: The Old Guard (2020)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-13 14:49:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29528049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RileyMasters/pseuds/RileyMasters
Summary: Day Seventeen of Febuwhump 2021. Alternative prompt: Identity RevealIn which Reid finally gets some answers, from all sorts of places.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Series: Febuwhump 2021 [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2139807
Kudos: 46
Collections: febuwhump 2021





	Identity Reveal

**Author's Note:**

> Ended up using the alternative prompt for today. I can write impalement (even in a joking manner), but field surgery is apparently my limit.
> 
> I also discovered that I messed up my timeline, so I'm going to be editing a couple lines in the previous stories. Nothing major, and nothing that changes the main story, but it's bothering me, so I'm going to do it.

The trio of Spencer Reid, Derek Morgan, and Sebastien le Livre shared a quick meal from a questionable new Chinese restaurant (Morgan liked it, Booker hated it, and Reid just didn’t have it in him today to care one way or another), Reid gave his friend a fond goodbye before ushering him out of his apartment. Only the reminder that they’d been given the day off, a favor only because of how many hours they put into the previous case, made Reid not actually shove Morgan out of his home.

Morgan and Booker were becoming fast friends and that was a train wreck waiting to happen.

Only when they were alone did Reid finally get the chance to actually talk to Booker. Without filters, without the polite withholding of information that really didn’t need to be discussed. 

Reid had known for years that Booker wasn’t in the best place, mental health wise. He always seemed resigned when it came to a job, and waking from death was just something he had to deal with. He didn’t have the drive like Andy, who was still privately searching for her lost love Quynh, or the passion to enjoy the life that’s been given to him, like Nicky and Joe and their many Malta sexcepades. 

No, Booker was lost to the past. During the summer a year after his first death, Reid joined him in Paris for a weekend. Instead of seeing the sights or exploring the museum (three guesses which option was what he actually wanted to do), Booker drove him to Marseille and brought him to his family.

It wasn’t a scene that he liked to revisit.

Now, in his apartment a world away from that tiny and mostly forgotten graveyard, Reid realized that Booker never really left. His heart was still there.

Or it was. Until the events of the past week.

From his position on the couch, Reid kept an eye on Booker, who was still trying to get him Joe or Nicky’s new number. He could understand why that hadn’t been immediately offered, but it did bother him a little bit. What if Reid had a problem? But then, he wasn’t in that dark hole anymore. His mom was stable again, and he wasn’t spiraling and in need of his brothers’ support yet.

Unlike Booker.

One takeaway Reid had made during the conversation was that meeting Nile Freeman had changed everything for Book. Here was spirited Nile, top of her class in high school, strong and courageous, willing to go against her mother to follow in her father’s footsteps, which according to Morgan was braver than him talking down Owen Savage.

Something in Nile had changed Booker. He was more willing to listen, to think of the future. He had said no less than four times, “when exile is over and I’m back with the family.” For Book to be looking more than a month into the future was big. He wanted to get to know this new immortal, who in the course of a few days had awakened something inside him.

Hope, maybe? Or at least something along that vein.

But right now, he was just showing frustration. Apparently his normal avenues of getting information had been closed off to him. A part of Reid was sad to see that, but at the same time, it was rightfully so. With what had happened, would the rest of the family ever trust him again? Booker would have to work for a long time to make amends.

“Finally!”

Reid looked up from the book on his lap, the only thing that was keeping it from being blatantly obvious that he was studying the older man. “Yes?”

“Joe’s number. They’ve changed it several times in the past few days. Or they’re just running through burners. You’ll want to make your call quickly.” He held out a scrap piece of paper with the number scrawled across it, the country code being from the Netherlands. “And no, I don’t know if they’re still in Europe.”

Reid stood, took the paper with a smile and moved towards the bedroom. “I’ll call him right now. If you don’t mind, though, I’ll call from my room.”

Booker nodded, his elation for finding the elusive information evaporating quickly. “Of course,  _ petit frère _ . It’s only right. You deserve to have all the facts.”

Reid rested his hand on Booker’s shoulder, something that he rarely did with anyone. Book knew what it meant.  _ Thank you for understanding _ .

They were all well versed in Spencer-ese.

* * *

On his own secondary phone, his first attempt was sent to voicemail after two rings. He called again, and was immediately sent again. Only on his third attempt did he bother to leave a message.

“It’s me, call me back, I want to know what’s going on.” Short, to the point, without revealing his hand and knowledge, but also making it so that if anyone should find the message, they would not get any information from it.

He’s spent too much time in the FBI. 

Within two minutes, it was ringing.

“We were going to call you, once everything was more settled.” The voice on the other end sounded almost rushed, and was decidedly not Joe. The Italian accent that the man couldn’t shake was a dead giveaway.

“According to the news, it’s been a few days. What needs to be settled?” Still not giving his hand. He  _ was _ annoyed that he hadn’t received so much as a text message. They had a twenty-five year old woman with them now. Texting was something that was going to be in the immediate future, he just knew it.

“You’ve had dreams, then. You have an idea?”

Reid rolled his eyes. He loved Nicolo, but there were times… “Yes. And I’d really like to meet her. Having the image of someone jumping out a skyscraper is not helping my own nightmares.”

There was a pause on the other end of the line, then the sounds of rustling. Then, “I hope you know you woke me up,  _ fratellino. _ It’s very early here.” That was Joe. There was no mistaking it.

“And I’ve barely slept in a week.”

A snort from far away caught his hearing. Apparently his conversation was entertaining to Booker at least.

Nicky’s voice retook the line. “Are you still away from home? Able to travel?”

“I’m back in Virginia. Only off for one day, but I could get another if I need to. I have enough vacation time, and Hotch won’t mind too much.” And if he could get the other side of the story, he’d feel much better about it.

Another pause, then a third voice starting speaking. “New York, Central Park. Meet in the usual place. Tomorrow at noon.”

Andy was making decisions again. That was a good sign. He knew that the job before they broke apart for a year hadn’t gone as planned, and Andy had been so disillusioned. To hear determination now was such a good thing.

“I’ll be there. I won’t promise I’ll be entirely coherent. I wasn’t joking about not sleeping.”

Joe’s voice came one last time. “Nicky will bring coffee and food. You’ll be fine.”

Then a click.

After sitting quietly for a moment, there was a knock at the door. “It’s fine Book.”

The Frenchman eased the door open. “A conversation that short does not normally bode well. Not when news needs to be shared.”

Reid shook his head. “Normally, I’d agree. But this wasn’t a news-filled conversation. Just a time and place to meet up.”

Booker raised an eyebrow. “Where?”

“Central Park, noon tomorrow. Which reminds me, I need to get a train ticket.”

His brother shook his head. “I’ll handle that. It’s the least I can do to try to fix things. Get some sleep,  _ petit frère. _ ”

Caught half risen from the bed, Reid finally addressed that. “You never used to call me ‘little brother, yet now everyone is. Why?”

Booker let out a chuckle as he let himself out of the room. “You and Nile are both 25. But, she was about to have her birthday. You are still the youngest.”

Reid goes to bed thinking it’s very good of him that he didn’t throw something at his brother.

* * *

Morning comes sooner than he’d like. He’s ushered out of his apartment by five, which would have normally been fine, but he’d been plagued by nightmares of Quynh all night, and he’d only had a few hours of sleep. He needed much more before things would finally start to make sense again.

He managed to give Booker a quick hug before ducking out the door, stopping short of threatening him to get out of his apartment like normal. Right now, Book didn’t have anywhere to go. It was the easiest thing in the world to give him a place to figure out his next move.

Reid may have understood why his family was pissed at Booker, and he may have agreed with them, but that didn’t mean he had to throw him out.

By the time he’d completed his twenty minute walk to the train (twenty only because he stopped to get his normal morning coffee from the café down the street), he’d taken care of securing vacation leave for the rest of the week. It may only have been two days, as it was Wednesday, but it was just in case.

As the train arrived in New York, Reid had fielded calls from JJ (“No, I can’t watch Henry, I’m so sorry, give him and Will my best.”), Emily (“Yes that’s one of my favorite films, but I’m booked today.”), and Garcia (“As soon as I’m done with what I’m doing, I’ll help you with your wig, but it won’t be until tomorrow at the earliest!”). So much for relaxing and dozing while traveling. 

Walking out of the station at Columbus Circle, having changed trains three times to make it, he was just hanging up with Morgan, who was checking in. That made five calls from the team, before noon. Only Morgan knew why he was stressing, but it seemed everyone picked up that  _ something _ was wrong on the flight home. At least they were nice in their attempts to get him to join them on their free day.

Morgan was also the only person who knew where he actually was, and that was only because Reid knew he’d get Garcia to track his phone, no questions asked, if he hadn’t told him. It took longer to convince him to stay home, that he could get around New York City by himself just fine thank you.

Already, he was tired and tempted to go find a hotel and get some sleep, but he knew that wasn’t a possibility right now. Not with the discourse in the family. He’d managed to make it to their normal spot with only a few minutes to spare, and with only having one woman bump into him. He could barely spared her a glance, still on the phone, with only hurried apologies as he kept walking. She just waved him off, an almost satisfied gleam in her eyes that he caught from that quick look.

The usual place was a bench under a tree overlooking a large span of grass near the center of the park. It was a decent meet point without getting detailed, especially when information could be important. No need to tempt fate.

Reid leaned back with a huff. Of course they were late. He let his eyes track the midday sunlight coming through the leaves. His family could only be on time if Nicky was determined, and if Joe wasn’t planning on spending the entire day in bed.

There was a part of him that was jealous of that, but he mentally shook it off. Let them be happy.

Between one blink and the next, a thermos was held within his vision. Tanned hands adorned with rings held it high and out of reach of the younger immortal.

Spencer turned and gave Joe Al-Kaysani a glare that he normally reserved for unsubs. It had no effect, just a small, sad smile. Spencer stole the cup away with practiced ease before taking a quick sip and almost choked.

“No sugar?” He sounded so betrayed.

Nicky di Genova chuckled and sat down next to the younger man. In his hands were two more thermoses, one of which was quickly pushed into Spencer’s hand. Joe easily took back his own coffee and settled on his other side.

“You weren’t surprised to see the news from London,” Nicky said in his to-the-point manner. 

Spencer shook his head. “No, I’d been tipped off. If not, I probably would not have realized that something had happened until you contacted me. I wasn’t joking about the not sleeping.”

“Nightmares?” Joe always worried about him, after finding him passed out in his bathroom a few years back. He knew he scared them, even if their bodies would burn through the drugs exceptionally fast. 

“No, a case involving missing kids. The worst kind. I was up for three days cracking the code before we found them all alive. But it was close.”

Both of his companions let out a sigh of relief. Anything involving children bothered them all.

“What tipped you off? I didn’t know it was reported in the news stateside.” Joe didn’t seem exactly worried, but confused.

“A drunken Frenchman, babbling about being sorry. I’d only just gone to sleep too. Gave me my last sleepless night out of worry. I tried calling all of you, but no answer.”

The other immortals’ faces had darkened as he mentioned Booker. He decided then and there to not advertise that Booker was in his apartment.

They had every right to be angry at Booker, he was too. He just didn’t want his apartment trashed in the resulting fight that was bound to happen the next time they all got together.

“Joe and I were… guests, if you will, of Mr. Merrick in London. It was not a pleasant experience, one that we hope to not repeat in the next century.” Nicky didn’t look at Spencer when he said that. Just kept an eye on the children playing in the grass in front of them.

In just those sentences alone, Spencer realized just how bad it had been for them. Nicky didn’t have to come out and say it. It was clear that they’d been tortured.

“Is everything cleaned up? Do you need my help?” Spencer had some connections in London, mostly professional. If need be, he could call in a few favors.

“No, we left the place clean. And if anything was left, it has already been destroyed.” Joe nodded. “We’re only trying to track down one more person, but we don’t think she’s left Europe yet.”

Nicky agreed. “It would be best if we kept you out of this. Our connection was not discovered. Only Yusuf, myself, and Andy were betrayed. Your name was never in the conversation. Supposedly.”

Spencer nodded. “Good. But let me know if there’s anything I need to know, or if you need some backup. I’m owed a lot of vacation time, and I can make use of it for family.”

A woman’s hand settled quickly on his shoulder, before letting go. “You’re fine. Just keep your head down.”

Spencer turned to see his sister - now with the qualifier of elder - had managed to once again sneak up on him. She had a bad habit of it. Behind her was the girl from his dream.

He gave the young woman a small smile. “Hello.”

She strode up next to Andy with confidence. “Nile Freeman.” She stuck out her hand. A no nonsense attitude. He had a feeling the next several years would be fun.

He easily took it. “Dr. Spencer Reid. I’m glad to meet you, Ms. Freeman.”

A look came across her face. Confusion, then remembrance and confirmation. “You work with the FBI.”

Spencer nodded. “With the BAU, yes. I believe I know someone you know. Agent Derek Morgan, my coworker.”

Nile spared a glance at Andy, a “do not even start” look that even Spencer could read plain as day. “Is he in the know?”

“Absolutely not,” Joe answered for him. “Our Spencer knows how to keep a secret.”

Spencer paused. How to word this… “He knows the basics. He and I shared a room on the last case. When I got the call from Booker, he was still awake. I didn’t realize I’d put my phone on speaker until it was too late. But he can keep a secret. He’d kept several of mine before.”

Andy looked as if she would kill him. Joe burst out into laughter. Nicky just sighed.

There was something else going on, but he didn’t need to know yet.

* * *

He spent the night in the city with his family, catching up on their adventures. Apparently Nile was impressing them all with her knowledge and abilities.

Andy suggested they have a shoot-out. Spencer shot that down immediately. No need for  _ everyone  _ in the family to know how bad of a shot he was.

Because of the late hour, he ended up crashing in Joe and Nicky’s hotel room. Apparently they were leaving back to Europe the next day. They’d only come to talk to him in person, and wouldn’t hear of him wanting to help. “Stay out of it, we can catch one doctor, Spencer,” they’d all said.

He did make sure to get Nile’s number, and her new secured email address. He wanted to make sure that she had a lifeline to someone should she need someone to talk to.

Booker had done it for him, after all.

Before passing out, he did remember to give Book a quick text. Just a “Staying in NYC tonight. Will be back at noon.”

After seeing everyone off to the airport the next morning, Spencer made his way back to Virginia. Again he was fending off requests for him to spend the day with his coworkers, but he successfully got out of it all.

Once he got home, he made a point to text Booker and Morgan to let them know he’d made it safely. Booker, so that he wouldn’t startle when he walked in. Morgan, because he’d worry.

But Spencer Reid came home to an empty apartment. Left on the table was a scrap of paper, with a phone number and an address in Paris. Next to it was the phone Booker had been using.

The scrap had just one extra line on it.

_ Just in case of emergencies, petit frère. _

Apparently, Reid was included in that exile rule, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not from the north east. I've spent all of two days in NYC, in which I was on the subway a grand total of one time. I'm basing a lot of my times off of a quick Google search and a throwaway line from early in season one of CM. If I'm worry, whoops.


End file.
